


To Be A Child Again

by RavenOfHope



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Cute Kids, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Harry Potter Raises Teddy Lupin, M/M, Pre-Slash, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27301987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenOfHope/pseuds/RavenOfHope
Summary: Although it was just gone five o’clock, the evening was getting darker already and quite a lot of children and their chaperones seemed to be about. As usual Hermione was right about the neighbourhood being a good place for Teddy’s first trick-or-treat adventure. The young boy looked around in amazement before insistently tugging Harry to the nearest house.
Relationships: Pre-Harry Potter/Theodore Nott, Teddy Lupin & Harry Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 100





	To Be A Child Again

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: HP belongs to JKR. No money is being made.
> 
> This started as a prompt on Discord and was beta'd by my very nice and talented flatmate <3
> 
> Happy Halloween!

“You ready, Teddy-bear?”, Harry called up the stairs as he finished with his own costume. With a great and accurate outfit and some makeup and colour-changing spells, Harry looked like a ghostly soldier right out of the 18th century. He even found a spell to make people feel cold when they walked past him.

“I’m coming, daddy,” was shouted down two stories followed by little feet running down the stairs. When he appeared on the last landing where Harry could see him, the six year old was grinning from ear to ear obviously delighted with his costume. His elaborate makeup and fur-covered clothing was complemented by tiny furry ears and a tail that wagged as he walked making him look like the perfect little wolf cub.

“Wow, you look great cub,” Harry said and if possible Teddy’s smile got even wider. He flew down the last flight of stairs stopping a few stairs up to throw himself into Harry’s arms. After six years Harry was quite used to his adopted son randomly leaping off of things and expecting Harry to catch him, so he caught the little flying wolf with practised ease.

The flash of a camera went off just as Harry had Teddy securely in his hold and he looked to the kitchen doorway to find Andromeda beaming at them, the camera still raised. “Come, stand by the fireplace so I can take another picture,” she directed, and knowing better than to argue Harry carried Teddy over to the indicated spot and let Andromeda take another few pictures.

By this time Hermione who had helped Teddy with his costume, joined them after descending the stairs at a much more sedate pace than her adopted nephew. She watched the controlled chaos of the Potter-Black household as Harry and Teddy got ready to leave with the amused air of someone who had seen the same scene many times before.

“You did a marvellous job on the costumes and makeup, my dear,” Andromeda said as she went to stand next to Hermione watching her two favourite boys. Harry was trying to stick more warming and tracking charms on Teddy while the young boy bounced around excitedly asking if they could leave already.

Hermione smiled at the scene. “Thank you, I’m glad I could help. I know how much this means to them – to Harry especially.” When Harry had adopted his godson as his son he swore that Teddy would never lack the love of a parent the way Harry had growing up – and that the boy got to do all the things Harry had always been excluded from: vacations, trips to the zoo and the amusement park and trick-or-treating.

The two women shared a knowing look as Harry came up to them. “Alright, we’re ready to go. Thank you both for your help.” He gave them both a kiss on the cheek and held Teddy up to do the same. “I’ll try to be back to help with the Samhain preparations,” he said, but Andromeda waved him off.

“Don’t you worry about that. You boys go and have fun. We women can handle ourselves here,” she said decidedly, and Harry couldn’t exactly argue with that given the two very capable women in front of him.

“Alright, hold on tight Teddy. Let’s go get some candy.” With those words he apparated them to a muggle neighbourhood near where Hermione’s parents lived. They arrived in a small, empty alley with a near silent ‘pop’. Harry set Teddy down and crouched down to be eye to eye with his little wolf.

“Okay cub, listen. We’re in the Muggle world now so try not to change your hair colour, alright? But if it does happen, don’t panic you won’t be in trouble. If someone sees it, I’ll find an explanation.” Colour-changing hair dye had become Harry’s most common explanation over the years especially when visiting Muggle playgrounds.

Teddy nodded solemnly causing Harry to smile slightly at the seriousness on his young and temporarily furry face. “Very good. Now come on, there’s candy waiting with our names on it,” he said and instantly the serious look was replaced by a bright smile. They left the alley onto a moderately sized residential street on which most houses had at least a pumpkin if not more decorations in their front yard.

Although it was just gone five o’clock, the evening was getting darker already and quite a lot of children and their chaperones seemed to be about. As usual Hermione was right about the neighbourhood being a good place for Teddy’s first trick-or-treat adventure. The young boy looked around in amazement before insistently tugging Harry to the nearest house.

Harry didn’t need to encourage Teddy as he knocked on the door without any trepidation. Ah, to be a child again. “Trick or treat!”, he basically shouted holding out his little bag as a friendly looking, middle aged woman opened the door. Harry shared an amused look with her over his son’s head.

She leaned down to be closer at eye level with Teddy. “Oh, I don’t want to imagine what tricks a clever, little wolf like you might have up his sleeves. It’s a good thing that I have prepared some treats as a precaution, isn’t it?”, she said with a wink. She took a handful of bonbons from a bowl that was placed on a side table next to the door and placed them into the bag Teddy was holding out.

“Thank you,” Teddy said brightly clutching the bag to his chest. “You’re welcome, little wolf,” the woman smiled and with a glance at Harry stage-whispered in a conspiratorial tone, “I better give your Daddy some treats as well, don’t you think? After all I don’t want my house to be haunted.” Teddy giggled and nodded as the woman handed Harry a few bonbons as well. They both thanked her again and then went on to the next house.

And on it went. At most houses Teddy received some form of sweet, either bonbons, lollies or – to his absolute delight – chocolate. Teddy Lupin was definitely his father’s son. A few times Harry got some candy as well. They both also received many compliments on their costumes which made Teddy very happy and that was all Harry wanted for his adopted son.

Soon it was completely dark and the time neared when they had to get back home. “A few more houses, Teddy-bear and then we’ll go home,” he told the little wolf who was a bit disappointed but determined to make the most out of the last houses they visited.

They approached a small, cottage style house next and Teddy knocked on the door. It opened and Harry found himself face-to-face with someone he hadn’t seen in six years. “Nott?”, he blurted out surprised and caught off guard. To be fair, Theodore Nott didn’t seem to be doing much better staring at Harry in bewilderment.

“Potter?”, he questioned his gaze travelling from Harry to Teddy and back. Teddy, who was quite used to Harry being recognised on the street, held out his bag which by now was almost completely full. “Trick or treat,” he said unperturbed, drawing Nott’s attention. The former Slytherin crouched down with a friendly smile and Harry realised with a pang that he had never seen such an open expression on Nott’s face before. “And who might you be?”, he asked.

“I’m the big, bad wolf,” Teddy answered, and Nott threw his head back and laughed out loud. Harry gulped at the sight and decided not to look at the feelings it evoked while in the company of his son. “I can see that”, Nott said once he stopped laughing, “and who are you when you are not the big, bad wolf?”

Teddy looked to Harry for permission which he gave with a slight nod and a smile. “Teddy Lupin-Potter, pleased to meet you,” the six year old answered, sticking out his hand which Nott shook without hesitation.

“Pleased to meet you as well, Teddy. I’m Theo and I went to school with your dad,” he introduced as he stood back up. Only now Harry noticed how much his once lanky frame had filled out over the years they hadn’t seen each other. “At Hogwarts?”, Teddy asked by which he subtly asked if Nott was indeed magical. Harry was so proud of him.

“Yes, we went to Hogwarts together. Nott was a Slytherin in my year,” Harry answered this time, and Nott’s bright blue eyes moved to look at him intently. Harry smiled slightly to show that he harboured no ill will towards him for the green and silver he used to wear.

“You were a Slytherin, really?”, Teddy asked excitedly to which he received a nod, and it was like a dam of questions broke. “Is it true that your common room is under the lake? That’s so cool! Can you see the Giant Squid from there? Does it get wet there a lot?”, he asked with barely a breath between sentences.

Nott laughed again and Harry put a hand on Teddy’s shoulder to calm him down. “Easy, cub. I’m sure Nott is sworn to secrecy the same way Uncle Draco is,” he said, and Teddy’s shoulders slumped slightly at losing another potential source of information about Hogwarts.

Nott looked at Harry in amusement. “Please, call me Theo,” he said before turning back to Teddy. “That might be true, but if you can prove to be an up and coming Slytherin I might be able to make an exception,” he continued, and Teddy’s eyes began to shine in excitement.

“You do know that Fred and George are his uncles, right?,” he drawled sarcastically before adding, “and call me Harry.” No- Theo smiled slightly and inclined his head. “How those two didn’t end up in Slytherin, I will never know,” he said and sometimes Harry had to agree. The twins could be resourceful and sneaky to the extreme.

“So, _Harry_ ,” Harry determinedly suppressed a shiver at how his name rolled off Theo’s tongue, “how did you come by this little fellow?”, he asked with a gesture to Teddy. Harry sighed lightly stroking his son’s hair in an absentminded way.

“I think that is a story for another time,” Harry replied as he saw Teddy suppressing a yawn. He looked at Theo and made a split second decision. “Why don’t you come by my place tonight? We’re having a Samhain celebration and I’m sure you’ll see some familiar faces,” he suggested. “We can talk about what happened since Hogwarts and maybe I’ll get to know how you ended up living in the middle of Muggle London.”

It was silent for long enough that Harry thought he had been too presumptuous, but then Theo broke out in another smile. “I’d like that,” he said, and Harry had to smile as well. He quickly wrote down the address and ward password on a piece of paper Theo gave him.

They said goodbye until later and after receiving another handful of candies, Harry and Teddy returned to the apparation point. “Are you alright, Teddy-bear?”, he asked his son who was unusually quiet especially for the amount of sugar he had consumed.

“Is Theo going to be your boyfriend?”, he asked suddenly causing Harry to sputter in surprise. He was used to his son being blunt, but he had never really asked about Harry’s relationships, so the question caught him off guard.

“I don’t know, cub. Why are you asking?”, he deflected while trying to come up with a better answer that wouldn’t embarrass him once Teddy told Theo which he undoubtedly planned to do.

“You like him,” Teddy said almost accusatory, “and he likes you too. You should be boyfriends.” It was said in such a matter of fact tone that Harry had to suppress a bout of laughter. But Teddy’s words made him think, did Theo really like him? Harry shook his head internally, that wasn’t the point right now.

“It’s not that easy, cub,” he said while trying to come up with a way to explain that there was more to a relationship than two people just liking each other to a six year old.

Teddy just stared at him in an unimpressed way that was very much like his grandmother. “You should change that,” he finally said causing Harry to really start laughing this time. To be a child again and see the world so simply.

“I’ll think about it, I promise,” Harry said before they apparated home.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this story was a treat for you! There might also be a sequel/second chapter in the works ;) If you want to chat or send me a prompt, visit me on Tumblr.


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